Pet by Catherine Chidgey perfectly fitted my reading needs at the time of reading. I was confined to the houseboat on the Gippsland Lakes, and this compact, spiky story was the engrossing book I needed.

It’s a suspense novel but not what you might imagine, because the focus is on a motherless twelve-year-old, Justine. Justine and her fellow classmates are drawn to their glamorous, charismatic new teacher, Mrs Price, who chooses her ‘pets’ by giving them special privileges and coveted extra time with her at the end of the school day. When a thief begins to target the class and Justine’s precious pen goes missing, a sense of uneasiness takes over.

Without revealing too much detail, themes of racism and power are explored as accusations and suspicion mounts between the students. Ill-feeling is deviously encouraged by Mrs Price.

The story moves between the present and the past – 2014 when adult Justine is visiting her father in a nursing home, and 1984 which covers the time in Mrs Price’s class. The sections set in the eighties were brilliantly written. I assumed Chidgey is roughly the same age as me, as the detail about being in grade six in 1984 was exactly as I remembered (I was in grade six in 1984) – I checked, and yes, we are of similar age. References to fads, food, music and fashion were accurate and immersive.

My main criticism of the novel was the editorial decision to move between present and past – savvy readers looking for clues will find them. This could have been avoided by keeping the focus on 1984, with perhaps a final chapter jumping to the present. As it was, the pacing falters slightly, but not enough to detract from being an engrossing book.

Mrs Price is a riveting character – so sly and manipulative, like a cat with nine lives. Equally well done were the classroom scenes (the dialogue between students was spot-on) and the few, but notable, sections describing the natural landscape – Peter Jackson’s 1994 movie, Heavenly Creatures, immediately came to mind. Actually, Pet is screaming out to be made into a film.

If you’re looking for a gripping book to fill a weekend, this would be a good pick.

3.5/5

I closed my eyes and dozed again, and when I sat up she was picking her way from group to group, offering us chunks of coconut ice that she had made herself … I ate my piece in one go, shattering the pink and white layers between my teeth and swallowing hard. I could have grabbed the tin and wolfed down the whole batch: the milky-sweet mouthful reminded me of something I couldn’t quite name, something like hunger.